I really appreciate how clear you are with your explanations. I remember learning this tune many years ago but really not quite understanding what was going on harmonically, and, thus, it not sticking with me. It’s crazy how melodic Wes’ ideas are.
Thanks buddy! Absolutely! Understanding what's happening harmonically and being able to put labels on sounds and ideas is crucial in order to retain the information. Otherwise it's all just too abstract to really absorb and apply in your own playing. Glad the video helped! :)
Another 5 Star video, Alex. Studying Wes Montgomery is essential for any serious guitar player, no matter what your genre. Your guitar sound is excellent. Universal Audio Twin and the OX make a huge difference vs. cheaper interfaces. I'm going to have to make the leap!
Thanks for commenting Joe, really glad you enjoyed it! Glad you like my tone here too, I'm loving this new guitar! And the Apollo is a lovely interface for sure.. especially worth the cost of admission if you're already a fan of their plugins too. 👌🏻
YESS!! One of my absolute favorites! Like you, Alex, 'The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery' was my first ever record by him, and I practically wore it out!! I think that besides teaching you how to really nail your target notes when playing over changes (as you stress here in the video), what my major takeaway from Wes's playing on this song was/is just how melodic his solos were. Each phrase was like a little mini-song masterpiece that I could sing back to myself, while I was driving in the car or whatever!! When first learning this solo 30 years ago, I didn't really even have to rewind the CD, because each gorgeous phrase was already ingrained in my head, like the lyrics to a catchy song, so all I had to do was find the notes on the fretboard!!! Wes blew you away with his commanding melodies, played at a reasonable, almost conversational tempo, and because he didn't need blindingly fast flurries of notes to blow you away, they were attainable to my young fingers haha!! You can tell that he was strongly influenced by Charlie Parker, (because to my ears, anyway), I hear a lot of similarities in their playing, with Wes always exploring those upper extensions of the chords with the 9ths, 11ths & 13ths, etc. That es175 sounds tremendous!!! The strategically placed candle really lit up her beautiful colors!!! Please be careful with that Bluechip pick!!! All it would take is for you to put it down for a second, Louis to find it and start tossing it around, and then it's gone!!!! A very expensive cat toy!!!!! 🤣🤣. Thank you so much for another fantastic lesson, Alex!!!!! 🙏🙌
Thanks for the comment Floyd!.. I knew you'd be a fan of this record too! ;) I'm with you.. Wes's phrasing was always so melodically driven, like you say, lines that you can sing back to yourself right away! Yes, I hear the Parker influence very clearly too, but with the more considered and sedate delivery of Lester Young with a similarly smooth, warm tone too. Glad you like the tone of my new guitar!.. I'm in love with the thing already.. a lifelong friendship for sure. Haha, yeah I've lost a handful of bluechip picks over the years.. had one stolen off my amp at a gig once too! Louis has yet to get his claws on one thankfully! 😅
I love this track, great to see it teased out & broken down by my new favourite guitar teacher!! Kinda have learnt the beautiful Round Midnight from Wes (first name terms), so cool to have some fresh meat.. . .
Thanks, Alex. That was a superb lesson. (Almost supernatural how much teaching and guidance you can compress into slightly less than half an hour!). Looking forward to learning this classic and getting the inner workings that make it so great under my fingers and into my head. Blues forward!
Thanks for the comment Eric!.. I'm so glad you enjoyed the lesson! I'm still figuring out how much too cram into these short little lessons.. I'm always conscious of trying to strike that balance between "enough" and not "overwhelming!".. not easy, but I'm glad you think this lesson achieved that 🙏🏻
@@AlexFarranGuitar Yes, I thought you were right to end the lesson when you did. If I can get that far in the next few weeks, I’ll be ready for the second solo (or more Wes)!
Love love your stuff Alex. Thanks for all you do. Small ask: Please turn off the auto focus tracking on your camera , as it's continuously trying to reacquire focus. Just manually set focus on your eyes or the fretboard to avoid this. maybe use a smaller aperture to get both in focus...they are almost in the same plane of focus and a smaller aperature would increase depth of field to include both. TIA
Sounds awesome. The format of your videos are so neat and easy to understand. Performance followed by chords theory and then solo theory all in one or two videos.
Love this style, Alex!! Again.......very well thought out and nicely paced descriptive lesson that has me fairly closely emulating Wes (if I dare be so bold but again........leaning on your well-thought-out lesson and direction.... how can we fail?) and also love how you encourage us to use alternative fingered chords!! This piece is just pure fun, buddy!! Jim C.
Sooo great brother…Been playing wcb for years…but methinks i been playing it wrong…🧐love for u to teach that killer intro from the later Verve version of wcb…its like the lady b turn but the rhythm is tweaked…yeah that old video is cool…
Oh man, I totally forgot about that great intro on the later version with the brass section.. I used to play that as an intro when I played this live many years back! Like you say, it's the ladybird turnaround from the end of the solo changes but with that lovely rhythm 👌🏻
Nicely done!!! The rhythm pattern...you play all downstrokes on the strong beats 1 AND and 3. The AND of 1 would be an upstroke if we strictly alternate strokes on this Jazz waltz. Furthermore, do you play the bass note AND 1 up/down or down/up? I tend to strictly alternate strokes but need to still figure out what sounds best....
that's a good questions.. the easy way to play this rhythm is to use more general alternate strokes.. but it doesn't sound right or have the correct feel, so I'd personally prefer to use all downstrokes to get the perfect "brushed" tone on those accents. It's gonna sound more in like with how Wes would play it with his thumb that way too of course. But.. nothing wrong with doing it the easier way.. just keep that swing feel strong.
Thank you for the great video and lesson.The sounds you are getting are impressive. What microphones are you using for speaking, guitar and amps? thanks
Thanks buddy, glad you enjoyed it! I used my lazy j20 for this video, and recorded it via my Universal Audio OxBox.. the vocal mic is the Shure SM7b.. always a good mic for voice over stuff 👍🏻
Great lesson Alex! How do you like the ES-175? Thinking of buying one. There is a mint one owner late 60’s ES-175 available near my house in Colorado for $550.
Thanks man! I love the 175.. very different tonally to the 125, so fills a nice space for me. Man.. $550?!.. for real?!.. that’s at least like 10 times under market value! Grab it! 🤪
